Klarinet Archive - Posting 001577.txt from 1999/01
From: "Cox, Graeme" <Graeme.Cox@-----.nz>
Subj: RE: [kl] custom barrel for large-bore clarinet
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 07:25:31 -0500
Kevin,
I, too, have recently purchased an old horn (apologies Cindy - old
*instrument*) of unknown brand, but it looks like a Selmer! The barrel is
not the original and being 61mm long, made the instrument unable to play in
tune with anything. After some experimenting with a tuner and a longer
barrel, I found that it needed a barrel of 68-69mm to achieve a reasonable
intonation over the whole range. The next step was to sketch up a new 68mm
barrell design with a straight 15mm bore to match the top joint and take it
to an engineering firm to see if they could make one cheaply in aluminium
(like the Accubore). They could, but what we finally decided to do was to
fit the old hard-rubber barrel with a small metal extension to make it the
length I wanted.
I haven't received the result yet but it will hopefully give me a very cheap
and reasonable sounding practice instrument.
Maybe you could try a similar approach. You could easily open out the
existing barrel (by hand, with care) to match the upper joint to your
favourite mouthpiece and your tuner will tell you if you need to lengthen or
shorten the barrel. If you don't feel up to doing the engineering yourself,
you should be able to find someone who can, in exchange for a bottle of
something! Does your City have an Association of Model Engineers or
something similar - they are wonderfully inventive people who love a
challenge!
Cheers,
Graeme Cox
Christchurch, New Zealand
Graeme.Cox@-----.nz
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Bowman [mailto:kbowman@-----.com]
Subject: [kl] custom barrel for large-bore clarinet
Greetings listers,
I recently purchased a vintage clarinet (1930 selmer - pre-Balanced Tone)
that came with an (obviously) non-original barrel. I have a couple of
questions perhaps some of you may be able to answer for me.
1) This instrument is obviously a *large bore* clarinet. Where is the
standard place to measure the bore for the overal bore size? I've
measured the bore (approximately) at the top of the upper joint and
came up with about 0.62 inches! (give or take a few hundredths of an
inch).
2) where, or from who, might I purchase a replacement barrel for this
instrument? I'm not really concerned about having a specific taper or
even double taper but rather something approximating what would have
been stock. The barrell that came with the clarinet is obviously a smaller
bore (you can see the size difference visually) and I think is having an
adverse effect on the overall tuning (not that I expect the intonation to be
great).
My desire is to get this horn back in a playable condition to use for jazz
and blues. It has a wonderful tone and it's a full boehm system to boot!
It's really a toy next to my R13 but it should be fun to play none the less.
TIA for any help you might be able to provide.
Kevin Bowman
Clarinet & Saxophone Instructor,
Rochester Conservatory of Music, Rochester, MI
and
Saxophones, Clarinet, & Keys,
B-Side Blues Project
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